Something Unconventional
by Ocasionallywriting
Summary: Margot Ramirez is the only one left of 30 hostages taken by the Joker and a vicious gang of criminals who are killing them one by one every 30 minutes and broadcasting each murder live to Batman and the Gotham police. She's next in line, but nothing is ever as simple as one two three, not even counting down to the pull of a trigger. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Man Down

**Disclaimer: I do not own the any of the characters except Margot. All rights belong to the original creators. Enjoy!**

The blindfolded man collapsed on the floor like a raggity Ann doll. Point blank fire. Quick and easy. He tucked his gun carefully into

the waistband of his pants and turned off the video camera like nothing had ever happened. _Jesus Christ. Oh god, oh god. _ Margot

looked at the faint outline of the clock that was hanging beside the door. She couldn't read the time in the dark, but she knew that this

next half an hour would be over very quickly. The man had never told her his name, but he'd been a retired commercial airlines pilot for

3 years. Probably in his early sixties. It didn't matter anymore. He'd been blindfolded and shot without a second thought right in front

of her. His limp corpse thrown haphazardly onto a pile of all the other bodies of the 28 hostages taken not 20 hours ago from a

bank in Gotham's downtown.

The police would be rattling their brains over this sick game of cat and mouse. Watching helplessly as innocent hostages were

murdered one by one every half an our on the dot. The broadcast was untraceable. Easily able to jam their tracking devices. The

murders weren't shown to the public though, only the people who mattered: namely the bat, but the city's department of defence

was thrown into the mix for a bit of fun as well. Margot knew he should have been there hours ago, the Batman, but it seemed

as if even he was having trouble reading a fucking map. _Fuck, fuck, fuck _she thought, as she rubbed her stinging wrists against the

tight, thick rope tied around them _I'm dead. This is it. Thirty minutes might as well be thirty fucking seconds. _She felt a bead of

sweat run down to her cheek from her forehead. It wasn't warm in the room.

The heavy cloud coverage almost completely obstructed the full moonlight and the faint orange hue from the flickering streetlight

seeping into the room through the window blinds gave the room a disturbingly eerie eminence. It was almost black, save the

glowing of a cigarette being lit by the man in the corner.

"28 minutes and 37 seconds my sweet." He cooed in a deep, rasping, and menacing voice.

She could see a puff of smoke rolling in her direction as he blew out the cigarette fumes before taking another drag. Her heart

pounded furiously. A stream of blood from the pile of dead bodies trickled down to her boot and she gasped in fear and disgust,

instinctively lifting her foot quickly off the ground. The shadow of the man in the corner shifted along the side of the wall until he

reached the end of the shrouding darkness just before the dim light of the street lamp could touch him. He stood before Margot in the

chair and then crouched down to her level, taking another puff of the cigarette which glowed brightly, illuminating his pale painted face

for a brief moment. The only thing between her and the murderer was a faint strip of light shining in through the small window. He

stuck out his hand, bloodstained and rough.

"I never got your name." His tone was almost mocking.

Margot stared at his hand for a moment in shock and swallowed.

"I-I uh-" She stuttered, unable to form a complete sentence even in her brain.

"Oh right then doll, how are you supposed to shake my hand if you're all tied up hmmm? How stupid of me!"

The man stood up again and turned her chair around in one swift motion so that she was positioned in front of a small circular

wooden table. She felt the rope tied around her wrists begin to loosen until her hands were soon free altogether. The next thing

she felt was the mouth of a gun pressed against the side of her skull.

"25 minutes or 5 seconds doll. It's your choice."

Margot squirmed and the man grabbed her chin with his free hand, squeezing until she winced in pain.

"It's your choice."

"I promise I won't. Please please don't kill me." She pleaded as she struggled to free her face from his strong hand cupped around it.

It was hard and scratchy all over. The hand of a killer. He released his grip and took the gun away from her temple before holding out

his hand again to shake like he had done before.

"I'm still going to kill you my dear." Margot heard him chuckle quietly and cringed. Every time he laughed

it made her feel so filthy. He laughed too often for someone involved in the business of crime and murder, for someone who

practically lived the business. Then again, the Joker was known to be the definition of a madman and he'd certainly lived up to his

reputation.

"Your name doll?" He insisted with his hand outstretched. When she didn't respond he slapped her across the jaw sending painful pins

and needles all the way down her face and neck.

"Let's try that again okay? Are you listening? Okay, good. _What's your name?"_

She reluctantly reached for his hand with hers which was shaking fervently.

"Margot" Miraculously, she had managed to squeeze out her name from a half closed windpipe.

"Very nice to meet you Margot," Said the madman. "My name's Jack"


	2. Now you see me

_Jack..._Margot's sluggish excuse for a brain struggled to formulate a reply that would not get her beaten to death by Gotham's City's

most notorious criminal/psychopath. The task was unimaginably difficult. The words formed slowly in her brain as if she were trying

to put cereal letters together in a bowl full of milk. They kept on floating away from each other before she could read the sentence.

_Mmmm, I want cheerios for breakfast tommoro-what the fuck are you thinking!? Snap out of it! Think of something to say!_

_Nice to meet you J-Jesus, no that's not right. Don't do that. Too forward. Don't be forward with him. Think faster...something...something_

_quickly..._

"You're the Joker?" The words spilled out of her mouth much to her own dismay.

_Holy fucking cow...hat's the best you can do?_

Jack began to laugh aloud. His "yips" and "hoots" and "haws" sounded like they were coming from a hyena. She'd heard one laugh

like that before, one time at the zoo when she was with her dad. She would have been just four or five. Even then she didn't like that

sound. Only it didn't send shivers racing up and down her spine like it did now. Like a fucking predator.

_I'm the pretty birdie. Pretty little birdie. Don't kill me big bad hyena! What time is it?_

Jack gripped her shoulders with both hands and shook so forcefully that Margot could feel her own brain rattling inside her skull. He

was still laughing hysterically. For a moment her nerves quieted down as she came to the realization that maybe she had, with

some luck, chosen the right thing to say to her captor. Or at least not the wrong thing to say anyhow. The feeling quickly faded as the

madman's loud boisterous laughing began to cease. He loosened his grip on her shoulders and let out a long and exaggerated sigh.

"Oh doll, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" He exclaimed and patted her on the cheek that still stung from the first time he'd

"touched"her there. Margot flinched. Her breathing became more shallow and her heart began to race again. God, he was a

disgusting man. Suddenly, she heard his voice whispering beside her ear in a menacing tone,

"You and I both know who _I_ am. The real question that remains is _who are you?_ Any more stupid questions beautiful...?"

Margot swallowed nervously, shaking her head. The voice appeared again, but above her this time. A safer distance, if there was such

a thing.

"22 minutes to go my sweet!" He singsonged "Before we're off to Neverland!" And she saw him skip around the table and into the

kitchen, swirling and twirling as he went. The Joker opened the fridge dramatically and the light that shone from it into the room was

the brightest thing Margot had lain eyes on in what seemed like an eternity. He grabbed a bottle from the fridge and two mugs that

where sitting on the kitchen counter before skipping back, slamming the fridge door shut with his foot. The room was dark again.

The Joker sat down in the empty chair across from her at the table. His face was nearly invisible to her eyes which was probably all

the better because he was a rather unsightly creature. Margot couldn't bear to look at him in the light. The grotesque and disturbing

makeup which he always wore was extremely off putting to her, though she supposed that was the intent. Not to mention he had

those hideous scars. Those heavy scars that ripped all the way from the corners of his ruby red lips to his cheekbones in a terrifyingly

suggestive way. _How did this happen to him?_ She didn't want to know. But in the dark he was like an enigma, like a dark cloud of

terrible possibility. Looming over her where she couldn't see. She wasn't sure which version of him she liked more. "Like" being

a term she used very, very loosely.

He slammed down the bottle of wine and the two mugs on top of the table and shouted, "To celebrate! Life, death and whatever lies

between!" The bottle opened easily with the pop of the cork and the foam from inside came spurting out uncontrollably. Jack aimed

its mouth in Margot's direction and she was sprayed in the face by the spitting alcohol until the pressure had left the container.

She'd known better than to move. _Fuck anything up and you're dead meat. _He laughed to himself as he poured the wine into the two

mugs, filling them to the brim. He slid one across the table to her and took a large swig from his own cup. She stared down at the mug

, not fully processing the situation. She suddenly realized that she was very tired.

"Drink fucking wine." His voice dropped in pitch, causing her to look up at him. it was hard to tell in the darkness, but she thought she

saw his tongue flick out to the corner of his mouth.

"Just a nervous twitch" He said calmly once more. "Why won't you drink?"

The hair on the back of her neck raised. Had he seen her looking? If so, it meant he could see her perfectly clearly while she was

unable to see him. The fear she felt was overwhelming. It was a horrible prospect. _You know somebody's watching you, but you can't_

_see them. _


End file.
